Fueled by upper-income household spending trends, the food gifting market is on firmer ground, buoyed by continued product innovation and usage occasion expansion: Packaged Facts' Food Gifting in the U.S. forecasts U.S. food gifting sales to reach $11.15 billion in 2012, up 2.5% from 2011. Despite this positive news, we see a plethora of untapped opportunity. While purchase frequency has trended upward during 2012-2012, it remains modest. To expand purchase frequency, we believe the industry can do more to ensure that food gifts are priced at tiers that allow for expanded lower-income market participation. We also identify a variety of tangible and intangible (emotional) product purchase and attribute rationales that can overcome sales obstacles among food gifters and non-food gifters alike. To assist market participants in maximizing sales and marketing opportunity, this report:

Assesses the food gifter from a variety of perspectives: the degree people purchase food gifts for themselves and for others; the amount they spend per gift, the number of recipients for whom they purchase the gifts, and the kind of recipient (i.e. mother, friend, coworker, etc.). To help shed light on each of these perspectives, in each case, we trend 2010 and 2012 proprietary consumer data.